US markets were broadly mixed on Monday with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 down 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively, despite a positive start to the day. The Nasdaq managed to finish 0.1% higher.
It is all about the Delta variant at the moment with more warnings from governments around the world and growing concerns that job gains will be slowed by the uncertainty as cases spike across the country.
Manufacturing slows, oil price tumbles
The result has been the pushing back of an expected tapering announcement, particularly after US manufacturing growth continued to slow, the PMI down to 59.5. A key driver has been the lack of supply of inputs as bottlenecks remain around the world.
Oil prices continued to fall after a deadly attack on a tanker by Iran, which should send the energy sector lower today. Both the US, Israel and the UK have vowed to respond to the attack.
Square stock leaps 10%
The only report of note was Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) suitor Square (NYSE: SQ), with shares jumping over 10% on news that profit was up tenfold to over US$200 million for the quarter.
Revenue doubled to US$4.68 billion, with the group confirming it had 40 million monthly active customers on its Cash App.
US stock market movers
Here’s how other popular US stocks started the week on Monday.
- Affirm (NASDAQ: AFRM) up 14.9%
- Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) up 3.9%
- Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) up 3.3%
- Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV) down 4.7%
- Fiverr (NYSE: FVRR) down 6.1%
- FIS (NASDAQ: FIS) down 6.6%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is tipped to open flat on Tuesday. For all the latest, check out Rask Media’s ASX 200 morning report.
